


Gallows

by demonsushi01



Series: Klance Trope Month 2k20 [24]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Heroic Rescue, M/M, Nooses, POV Keith (Voltron), Pirates, Prisoner Keith (Voltron), The Gallows, lack of proper med care, which results in infections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24367291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonsushi01/pseuds/demonsushi01
Summary: Day 24. Heroic RescueRebel Pirate leader Keith is captured in the midst of an operation and is held in the brig for about a month as he's being brought back to the shores of his old homeland. He finds himself wondering if his crew has died and finds himself particularly missing the company of his first mate, Lance.Thankfully his crew is made of some brilliant minds
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Klance Trope Month 2k20 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727086
Comments: 11
Kudos: 83





	Gallows

**Author's Note:**

> Dear sweet baby jesus this is so late

When Keith’s cover is blown to pieces, he’s caught red-handed in the midst of tearing apart the captain’s maps and planting false information. The crew on board the ship draw their respective blades out but Keith knows a one-v-twenty fight is more than a little unfair and out of his league. 

“Oh ho, who do we have here?” The captain slides past his crew to approach Keith. “Looks like we have ourselves a little traitor here.” Keith looks toward the window and wonders if he’d survive the fall to the ocean waters if he jumped out. He moves but the crew is on him in an instant, pinning him to the walls and shackling his wrists and ankles together.

“Into the brig with him, the king will be happy to see him.” The captain orders. The crew shoves him, making him stumble over his feet until they lock him up below deck. 

✨⛵✨

Keith counts about five paces between the wall and the gates, and ten paces from side to side. It’s a small cell to say the least, hardly any room to lay down in. The crew tosses stale or rotten food in his direction. There’s no windows, no way for him to track the time that’s passed. All he has is the rocking of the ocean to guide him. 

At some point, the crew starts getting antsy and Keith concludes this is due to his team pulling back when they’d realized something had gone wrong. He has little doubt they’re planning on how to get him free. But with the crew of the ship he’s a prisoner of being jumpy and angry, they take it out on his hide. Especially the captain himself.

“Where are the others?” Captain Sendak backhands him. Keith sees spots for a moment before he shakes his head.

“I don’t know.” He answers. 

“Where is your hideout?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Who is in your group?” 

“I don’t kn--”

“Surely you must know something! You’re their leader!” Captain Sendak grabs his face

“Funny that you think so.” He gets out and then has his head slammed back against the wall. 

“You know something and I will get you to talk.” The captain grabs a pair of shears and Keith clenches his jaw shut. 

✨⛵✨

Keith’s throat is raw from screaming. The captain was unfortunately unable to get any worthwhile information out of him. He spoke nothing but fifty different lies, one built on top of another. He flexes his fingers and whimpers. All ten fingers and toes are still surprisingly attached to his body. 

But his hands have been injured quite heavily. He keeps moving his hands, regardless of how much it hurts. Better for it to hurt now then be unable to use it later.

✨⛵✨

He can tell the captain finally finished going through his falsified records when he hears an angry yell echo across the wooden planks. Then it’s quick footsteps that are approaching his smelly, disgusting, cell.

“You have pissed me off, for the last time.” Captain Sendak growls and reaches into his cell and grabs him by the collar.

“What are you gonna do about it? Cry to you King?” Keith spits in his face. The captain roars, and yanks him out of the cell and flings him against the wall. He wheezes as he gets up but he’s quickly beaten back down by a fist and hook alike. The hook catches his skin, pulling it and splitting it open. 

He slips around the captain and is quick to turn his chains into a garrote along his neck and try to choke him out. It doesn’t last long enough to make the guy collapse. His first mate Haxus stabs his back and forces them apart. He’s given a sharp blow to his head and the world tips on its side.

✨⛵✨

Keith finds out he’s been onboard Sendak’s ship for about a week now. Based on the charts he’d been in the process of wrecking, they were three weeks away from the Galran Kingdom. His team still hasn’t brought any news, any sign that they’re on their way for him. He knows if Sendak is able to get him on the shore, he’d be a dead man. 

He’s a dead man out on the seas, a dead man in his home country and several others, a dead man in this cell. He coughs as he sits up, ribs aching from the latest beating of the captain and the crew. His wounds smell sickly sweet and they are no doubt infected with something. 

✨⛵✨

Week two onboard the dinky ship has Keith in a retrospective mood. He leads a band of pirates out here in the seas. They fight against everything the Galran Kingdom stands for. The enslavement of the weak, the slaughter of the poor, paying the rich to be richer. The Galran King needed to be brought down, a new person needed to take his place. 

He found Shiro, a gladiator who fought for sport against his own will. He found Hunk, trying his damndest to be a free man. He found Pidge, orphaned like him, stealing bread and coin alike. He found Allura, a runaway princess frustrated at her own kingdom. And he’d found Lance, the dashing man stuck serving drinks in a brothel and hiding his sisters.

He’d offered them all something they had not had before. A choice. They could come with him and be free out amongst the sea, but forever be seen as criminals and have death hover over their shoulders at every turn. Or they could continue to struggle fruitlessly where they were. And when they joined him it was a relief. 

Which is why he fears for them when they haven’t shown up yet. His beatings take on more severity, leaving him gasping for air hours later. He wouldn’t want anyone else to take his place. Not for the punching and kicking, not for the whipping, not for the stabbing, and definitely not for the poor to nonexistent medical care he’d been getting. 

But his fears are nothing compared to how much he misses his first mate, Lance. He _misses_ the shanties and his haunting voice when he sings to the moon. He _misses_ Lance’s loud and boisterous laugh when he’s pulled off a con or located a box full of treasures. He _misses_ Lance’s passionate kisses and moans, his body lying next to him in the hammock in his quarters

✨⛵✨

By the third week, he assumes his team is dead. There’s no other explanation for their inability to rescue him. They _were_ just behind the boat, after all, tucked into a small blind spot. But he can hear the sounds of seagulls outside and he knows he won’t be living for much longer either. 

Thank god he doesn’t have to go alone. Perhaps he can go to the place that Lance speaks of with such conviction. They can all go. And he can hold Lance in his arms once again in the endless skies above them all rather than the darkest depths of the oceans below. 

✨⛵✨

He’s hauled up to the deck and he squints against the bright light of the sun reflecting off the water. He stares out at the shoreline of Galran territory. He couldn’t tell you what part of the country he was looking at, or if it was originally Galran in nature. It’s been ages since he’d been so close. Sendak and his crew haul him out along the plank to the pier.

The commodore meets them and Sendak grumpily hands Keith over. He’s taken to a prison cell on land. He never sees the king but he knows he won’t have to. His reputation happens to precede him and he will die at the block before nightfall tomorrow. 

“Just a bit longer, Lance.” He whispers, head tipping back against the brick wall. “A bit longer and we can fly together in the skies.”

✨⛵✨

There’s quite a large crowd out around the gallows. He wonders how many knew he’d be up today, wonders if they knew the cause he was dying for. Keith is pushed onto the gallows and he stares at the executioner. Something about the silhouette of the man seems _familiar._ The noose is wrapped around his neck and the executioner leans in.

“Lance is in the crowd. Stay as still as possible.” He can’t see the executioner’s face because of his hood but he does recognize the voice. _Hunk._

He looks out into the crowd immediately, scanning the people with more scrutiny than before. Keith sees Shiro standing in an officer’s uniform, Allura on his arm and a fan hiding her face. Pidge is slipping coins into children’s hands who get wide eyes. Lance, beautiful as ever, stands the furthest away from the gallows, calculating in his mind. 

His executioner drops something after Allura opens and closes her fan a few times. He watches Lance take a half step back reaching for his belt. Pidge points things to the kids and they all split up. Shiro counts down on his fingers and Keith tries to relax. 

It’s hard when Lance has a gun pointed in his direction and Hunk’s hand on the lever for the trap door beneath his feet. The ground falls out from under him, and several things happen at once. The children suddenly scream as multiple small pops come from them. Shiro and Allura direct people away from Lance. And he fires, the sound covered from everything else.

The bullet cuts through the rope and he free falls under the gallows. He hits the ground with a hard thud and he groans from the impact. He rolls to his feet and tucks himself in a dark corner. The door opens up and he tenses prepared to fight his way out if needed. 

A musical whistle rings out and Keith relaxes. He steps out of the shadows and sees Lance. His eyes well up and he rushes over. Lance picks him up, far too easily, and spins him before setting him down. 

“Let’s get you out of here.” Lance pulls the cloak he’s wearing off his shoulders, wrapping it around Keith and flipping the hood up. He takes Keith’s hand and leads him out through the crowded streets. There are still small popping noises but he’s no longer sure where they’re from now.

They start running and his legs feel weak and tired. He pushes past it until Lance is pulling him onto a boat that has long since become his new home. Allura is already on deck, out of her fancy gown, and at the helm. Shiro greets him with a firm hand on his shoulder. Hunk and Pidge are running on the pier and jump on board.

“Go!” Pidge hisses as they crawl up the mast to unfurl the sails. 

Lance guides him into the captain’s quarters. He scrubs Keith down and once out at open sea Shiro takes a look at his infected wounds. Allura is quick to work on getting a remedy made with Hunk. But for the time being he lays next to Lance in his hammock. 

“My hero.” Keith murmurs, kissing his shoulder.

“Of course.” Lance cups his jaw and presses a sweet kiss to his lips. “You saved me first, it’s only fair after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> I went through like 4 or 5 different things for this prompt so I hope this one works lol
> 
> Day 31 is "Free Space" and I have a small survey to see what prompt you guys would like me to use for that day. It's a simple google form with five options and it should allow you to do it without needing an email. I will close the form on the 29th and announce the winner on the 30th You can find it here: https://forms.gle/GE36oDv1s8B7dohp8
> 
> With that said! Feel free to talk to me on demon-sushi on Tumblr or in the comments below <3


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